A Queens dad trying to protect fellow straphangers from a deranged man on a Times Square subway platform was hurled onto the tracks by the lunatic and fatally crushed by a train yesterday, cops and witnesses said.

Ki Suk Han, 58, desperately tried to scramble back to the platform as onlookers screamed, shouted and frantically waved their hands and bags in a bid to get the downtown Q train to stop at around 12:30 p.m.

Post freelance photographer R. Umar Abbasi — who had been waiting on the platform of the 49th Street station — ran toward the train, repeatedly firing off his flash to warn the operator.

“I just started running, running, hoping that the driver could see my flash,” said Abbasi, whose camera captured chilling shots of Suk’s tragic fight for his life.

The train slowed, but a dazed and bruised Han still wound up hopelessly caught between it and the platform as it came to a halt.

A shaken Abbasi said the train “crushed him like a rag doll.”

Dr. Laura Kaplan, a second-year resident at Beth Israel Medical Center who was also on the platform, sprang into action, taking off her coat, grabbing her stethoscope and rushing over to help the dying man.

“People were shouting and yelling when it happened, but then people ran the other way,” said Kaplan, 27.

“I heard what I thought were heart sounds,” she said, but Han never took a breath.

“There was blood coming out his mouth. We couldn’t do CPR. He wasn’t in the right position. and there was just no way to get him out of there.”
Han, who lived with his wife and college-age daughter in Elmhurst, was taken to Roosevelt Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

His attacker was last seen running out of the station’s 47th Street exit — at the north end of Times Square — heading northbound on Seventh Avenue. Cops last night were scouring surveillance video for signs of him.

The killer was described by police as black, 30 to 40 years old, about 5-foot-9, with short dreadlocks. He was wearing a white T-shirt, dark jacket, filthy jeans, black sneakers with a white stripe and a black beanie cap.

The horrific drama unfolded after Han approached the crazed man — who police sources described as a panhandler and witnesses said had been harassing and cursing at straphangers — on the southbound platform and tried to calm him down.

As other riders congregated toward one end of the platform, Han and the man were about 100 feet away from them.

“He went up and tried to calm him down, saying, ‘You’re scaring people,’ ” a law-enforcement source said.

Tragic doesn't begin to describe what happened to this hero. Why does NYC still not have proper guardrails to prevent people from falling or getting pushed onto the tracks? I know this was in Queens, but that's still no excuse.

madoka wrote:

Post freelance photographer R. Umar Abbasi — who had been waiting on the platform of the 49th Street station — ran toward the train, repeatedly firing off his flash to warn the operator.

“I just started running, running, hoping that the driver could see my flash,” said Abbasi, whose camera captured chilling shots of Suk’s tragic fight for his life.

I call BS on this. Look at the frontpage image that is attributed to this photographer. That is not an image taken by someone running frantically.

The poor man was half-standing with his arms on the platform. Why was no one rushing to his aid?

The New York Post is facing criticism over its decision to publish a front-page photo of a man, pushed onto the subway tracks in Midtown on Monday, trying to climb to safety before being fatally struck by an oncoming train.

Ki Suk Han, a 58-year-old from Queens, N.Y., was hurled from the 49th Street station platform onto the tracks by "a deranged man" around 12:30 p.m., according to the paper. Han was attempting to calm the man, apparently a panhandler, when a scuffle broke out, police say. The man then pushed him onto the tracks.

Witnesses told police the man had been harassing people on the platform. "At least one witness felt that the aggressor was emotionally disturbed," NYPD spokesman Paul Browne told The New York Times.

"Onlookers screamed, shouted and frantically waved their hands and bags in a bid to get the downtown Q train to stop," the Post reported.

R. Umar Abbasi, a freelance photographer, was among those waiting on the platform. He said he tried to alert the train's conductor with his camera. "I just started running, running, hoping that the driver could see my flash," Abbasi told the tabloid.

During the chaos, Abbasi managed to snap the photo that the Post splashed on its cover.

In a larger version of Abbasi's photo, people are seen huddled at one end of the platform in apparent fear.

"People were shouting and yelling when it happened," Dr. Laura Kaplan, another witness, said. "But then people ran the other way."

"DOOMED," the Post declared on its front page. "Pushed on the subway track, this man is about to die."

Abbasi did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment, nor did representatives for the paper. But plenty of Twitter users expressed outrage. "Sickening rubber-necking front page from the New York Post," Ian Prior wrote on Twitter. "Imagine how this man's family feels."

"I would drop dead if I saw a family member about to be run over by a train on the cover of a newspaper," Chris Spooner wrote. "@nypost trades in snuff."

"Shame on the NY Post," Haverly Elizabeth tweeted. "Though I am less then shocked they'd stoop so low."

"Wow," Daniel Joseph wrote. "The New York Post might be the most tasteless, disgusting, and despicable publication out right now. #Garbage #Classless."

"Horrifying," Katie Zezima wrote on Twitter. "Why did no one help?"

"It was a lot of confusion," Patrick Gomez, another witness, told amNewYork.com. "It was a lot of people getting scared."

Han was taken to St. Luke's Hospital where he was pronounced dead, according to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

The train's operator was treated for shock, the MTA said, declining to release his name.

The man who pushed Han fled the station. On Tuesday afternoon, a man police believe is the suspect was taken into custody. His name was not released, but according to NBCNewYork.com, the alleged pusher is "a 30-year-old former deli worker."

He is seen arguing with Han in the video, released by the NYPD, (in the link above.)

I am so disgusted and horrified by this story, truly. I am from New York and just feel a combination of anger, sadness and shame. I have never known people to just stand around and do nothing like that, and as far as the New York Post rag, I hope they get what they deserve.

The Post published a photo on its front page Tuesday of Han with his head turned toward the train, his arms reaching up but unable to climb off the tracks in time. It was shot by freelance photographer R. Umar Abbasi, who was waiting to catch a train as the situation unfolded.

He told NBC's "Today" show Wednesday that he wasn't trying to take a photo of the man, but was trying to alert the motorman to what was going on by flashing his camera.

He said he was shocked that people nearer to the victim did not try to help in the 22 seconds before the train struck.

"It took me a second to figure out what was happening ... I saw the lights in the distance. My mind was to alert the train," Abbasi said.

"The people who were standing close to him ... they could have moved and grabbed him and pulled him up. No one made an effort," he added.

Ethical and emotional questions arose Tuesday over the published photograph of the helpless man standing before the oncoming train accompanied by the headline that read in part: "This man is about to die."

The moral issue among professional photojournalists in such situations is "to document or to assist," said Kenny Irby, an expert in the ethics of visual journalism at the Poynter Institute, a Florida-based nonprofit journalism school.

Other media outlets chimed in on the controversy, many questioning why the photograph had been taken and published.

"I'm sorry. Somebody's on the tracks. That's not going to help," said Al Roker on NBC's "Today" show as the photo was displayed Tuesday.

Abbasi said he did not control how the images were used in the Post, but he did tell the "Today" show he has sold the images.

That sucks. I suppose it's just the bystander effect coupled with the short amount of time before the train arrived making it difficult to realise what should have been done

If a fit young guy had acted instantly they could have seen that he was struggling to get back onto the platform, dropped down to give him a boost, then jumped back up. The problem is it would take a moment to see that he can't get up, then a moment to figure out what to do, then by that time it would likely be too late to pull it off

Reaching down to pull him up could work I suppose, but would also likely hinder him if he could have pulled himself up

I suppose the best thing would be to always be aware of the dangers in your immediate vicinity. If you are conscious of them, you could probably act faster in a situation like this. It's a shame nobody was

Outside of Korea people probably don't understand that a shouting ajosshi is just bluster. Looks more agressive than it actually is. My guess is the homeless guy felt more threatened than he needed to be.

Seems to me that most Korean guys don't realise that the sort of behaviour that is normal here (shouting, yelling in other peoples faces, staring agressively) is likely to provoke fights in most other countries of the world. And in most other places.. they aren't too worried about having to pay blood money.

Quote:

NEW YORK — The homeless man charged with shoving a man to his death as a train barreled into a Times Square subway station says the victim instigated the confrontation.

Naeem Davis, 30, was arraigned Wednesday night on a second-degree murder charge and ordered held without bail in the death of 58-year-old Ki-Suck Han, whom he allegedly pushed onto subway tracks on Monday.